"My family's all from Fort Worth. We never really spent much time in Houston. Houston was a little rich for our blood," said Hawke, in town Saturday as part of the Cinema Arts Festival Houston. "Now I've made it to the big time."

Hawke (Training Day, Gattaca, Dead Poets Society) was at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Saturday night to introduce The Woman in the Fifth, a French psychological thriller co-starring Kristin Scott Thomas He also received the festival's Levantine Cinema Arts Award in honor of his multi-hyphenate career.

Hawke called the film, which has yet to set a domestic opening date, "strange" and "really, really beautiful."

"It feels like such a strange European film to me that it's odd to be showing it in Houston," Hawke said. "It just seems incongruous to me, but I really hope that people like it."

Houston-born filmmaker and old friend Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused) presented Hawke with the award. They took in several local landmarks earlier in the day, including the Orange Show, the Beer Can House and the River Oaks Theater.

"It's turned into a long-term creative partnership. It's just great to be around him and watch his life unfold," Linklater said. The pair worked together on Before Sunrise and Before Sunset and have been shooting a new film in Houston.

"In a lot of ways, being here has a lot to do with my friendship with Richard Linklater. It's a fun time for me," Hawke said. "I shot Reality Bites here. I came to WorldFest years ago with the first short film that I made."

Hawke and Linklater will present a tenth anniversary screening of their film Tape, 1 p.m. Sunday at the Edwards Greenway Grand Palace, 3839 Weslayan.